Tiny Heroes is a sidescrolling RPG, but the RPG elements aren't like what you find in a typical RPG. You have health, stats, level ups, and quests, but I'm trying to keep things a little unconventional (in a good way). The player isn't going to grind for level ups, so you won't be doing quests for experience. My plan is that quests will:

1. Give me an opportunity to create some plot or backstory. Instead of the areas being called "level 1" and "level 2", like in traditional platformers, places will have names and maybe even some story. I'm certainly not an RP fanatic, but I feel like this is a good way to give the game a little more substance. If nothing else I like to stick goofy things in NPC chat and quests give me a way to have more NPC interaction.

2. Give the player a reason to not just plow through each level in order. Having a quest to do gives people a reason to stop and explore an area more than you might if you didn't have the quest.

3. Be an opportunity for medals.

4. Be a way to guide players. The map won't be entirely linear and the quests can act as a way to guide the player towards certain places.

5. Reward players for their time. I'm not sure what kinds of currencies the game will have and what you'll be able to buy, but there will be some players who would only do a quest for the reward so there's nothing wrong with having one.

6. Add some replay value once you've completed each level. Going back to complete quests you skipped gives you a reason to visit old zones.

The big question is: what's the average quest going to be like?

I think they'll be fairly generic things. The action/platform experience is what the game is about, so these other RPG elements are just there to complement that and push it along. It's not a story-driven RPG with some tricky platform sections, it's a tricky platformer with some story bits.

The way I view it, the quest is just a reason to do something that was part of the game anyway. For example, I might create some hard to find sections on a map with some powerful enemies. By itself, there's no reason to explore, find these enemies, and kill them. You might happen to stumble across them and enjoy the challenge of killing them, but you might not, especially if it's off the beaten path. Creating a quest is a formal thing recognized by the game that gives the player a reason to experience this optional content.

So yes, the quests will probably be boring things like "go kill this enemy", or "find these items".

Questions:

1. What about a quest would most grip your interest? The story? The task? The reward?

2. What neat quest-related things have you seen in games that might be good to include here?

Warcraft III did a very cool job with a few of its side quests, usually hidden throughout the campaign.

I liked about these side quests is how they are connected to the main quest:
-When playing as humans, for example, in the first few missions you're stopping an Orc raid to a Human village. Your main quest is, of course, to stop the raid and destroy the Orc encampment. A side quest can be found if you talk to a crying villager. When you approach her, she tells you that her son has been captured by Orcs (or was it goblins? hmm). If you rescue her son, you get a health potion.

The main quest is, by no means, timed in this case, so you can go for this side quest; the health potion is why you should go for the quest; but really, what definitely made me go for it was the fact that it added depth to the main quest. It was closely related to the main quest, and it just made the whole game environment more believable. So, to answer your questions:

1) What about a quest would most grip your interest?
How much it adds to the main quest's experience. Does it explain a bit more about a character's story? Does it explain the origin of a place? Does it give me a hint as to what will happen in the future?

2) What neat quest-related things have you seen in games that might be good to include here?
How the player is, subtly, invited to approach them. Not having NPCs be highlighted with holy light and fifteen exclamation marks on top of their heads; having, say, an old drunk beardy guy in the corner singing, or seeing a child crying, or even looking at a man desperately looking for something.

Another thing that makes questing more realistic is to have NPCs that seem to know each other. For example, an old Sage might send you on a quest to deliver some scrolls to his pupil Alexander so he can perform a spell that will summon a large whale that you can use to travel across the sea. In Dragon Quest 8, some side quests were similar to this such as when you first meet Red, the conversation between her and Yangus implied they had already knew each other and had disputes in the past. Though the quest you go on after you meet Red had nothing to do with killing Rhapthorne, it was still interesting and entertaining not to mention rewarding.

Quests don't have to always connect to the main quest - just don't do lame quests like: "Hey bro I need you to kill 5 boars and bring me back their hides kk"

1. What about a quest would most grip your interest? The story? The task? The reward?

I find that when I'm just plain having fun during a quest I don't really worry about any of the three. Well, you could say the task.

The Jak and daxter trilogy is a good example. The missions are all very fun, and you find yourself having so much fun completing them that you don't really think about those things.

I would say that I love quests that are well designed in terms of fun-ness, with a driving storyline underneath them to give a sense of purpose. Also, a quest needs a hint of difficult that constantly presents a rising challenge, with an equally rewarding ending.

2. What neat quest-related things have you seen in games that might be good to include here?

I recommend looking into bioware's take on quests in Star Wars: The Old Republic. As a morpg designer however I wouldn't doubt it if you already have xD

They tie the storyline-driven choices into non-linear quests, complete with their own dungeons and bosses. It looks like what you showed here, lol.

I recommend looking into bioware's take on quests in Star Wars: The Old Republic. As a morpg designer however I wouldn't doubt it if you already have xD

When it comes to commercial PC games that are less than 5-10 years old, I'm surprisingly clueless.

They tie the storyline-driven choices into non-linear quests, complete with their own dungeons and bosses. It looks like what you showed here, lol.

Non-linearity isn't something I've put much thought into. My rough plan is that the game will have dungeons that you can do in different orders, but no matter how you play through the game you'll still experience each dungeon. I like games that you can experience entirely from a single play through, but I suppose as long as there are multiple character classes you'll need multiple plays to see everything the game has to offer. So really, having some branches isn't out of the picture.

EmpirezTeam wrote:

Quests don't have to always connect to the main quest - just don't do lame quests like: "Hey bro I need you to kill 5 boars and bring me back their hides kk"

The problem with those kinds of quests in games like WoW is that each quest is essentially the same. You go to where the enemies are located, kill a bunch, then go back to town. Any one of those parts could be made more challenging but they rarely are. By playing up the platformer elements its easy to make these types of quests more interesting - platformers are all about finding ways to make it difficult for the player to get from point A to point B.

I do agree that NPCs starting sentences with "Hey bro..." is a bad idea :-)